Sweet pepper plants of the species Capsicum annuum belong to the Nightshade family, also known as Solanaceae. It is an annual herbaceous flowering plant species native to South America.
Pepper plants are being cultivated worldwide for their highly nutritious fruits. In 2012 the acreage for sweet peppers in the United States was approximately 55.5 million, with a production of about 848,160 tons (source USDA). The pepper fruits have a high vitamin A and C content, as well as a high content in dietary fiber. They are also an excellent source of Calcium. Bell peppers are eaten raw, cooked, immature and mature and may be processed into powders, sauces, and salsas. The fruits in the unripe stage are usually green, but during ripening they usually become red, although other colors are known also such as: yellow, orange, purple, white, and brown.
There are various ways of cultivating peppers, the most common are: open field, greenhouse and shade house production. Although the species can be grown under a wide range of climatic conditions, it performs most successfully under dry and warm conditions.
The genus of Tobamoviruses is a group of rod shaped viruses capable of infecting a wide array of species, including Capsicum species. Pepper infecting strains of Tobamovirus are subgrouped into ‘pathotypes’, according to their reactions on a set of differential Capsicum sp. hosts. Pathotype P0 corresponds to Tobacco Mosaic virus (TMV) and/or Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV), Pathotype, and pathotype P1 corresponds to ToMV as well. Pathotypes P1-2 and P1-2-3 belong to isolates of Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMoV). Symptoms on susceptible plants can vary considerably depending on the strain of virus, time of infection, and growing conditions. Foliar symptoms include mosaic, mottling, leaf distortion and sometimes leaf death and defoliation. Fruits of infected plants may be undersized, deformed, mottled or blotched and have a rough surface. Infected seedlings are usually stunted and pale. Tobamoviruses are easily transmitted through contact and can be transmitted by seed. Especially in greenhouse cultivation Tobamoviruses can be a problem due to the higher plant density compared to open field cultivation. Tobamoviruses are responsible for significant economic losses in pepper production areas. Genetic resistance to Tobamoviruses is thus highly desired.
Fruit shrink cracking, or “russeting” occurs when hairline cracks cover up part of the fruit surface. There seem to be various possible underlying causes for fruit shrink cracking, ranging from low fruit load relative to leaf area, insect damage, a high relative humidity and a large average differential between day and night temperature. The latter case, a large average differential between day and night temperature is relevant in areas like Mexico where during the fruit growing season in February and March warm days are followed by cold nights. Moist formed on the fruits during the cold night could cause the fruitwall to become rigid, making cracking more easy. Pepper cultivars with thick-walled fruits (>8 mm) seem more susceptible to cracking than cultivars with thinner fruit walls.
In the production of bell peppers large fluctuations exist in the number of fruits that are ready for harvesting. This phenomenon in pepper production is called ‘flushing’: weeks with high yields are alternated by weeks with low yield. The irregular harvest pattern makes it difficult to meet regular weekly demands. This cyclic production pattern leads overall to weeks with a high market supply and low prices followed by weeks with a low market supply and high prices. Flushing also results in strong fluctuations in labour demand in the greenhouses. Hence, developing pepper varieties that exhibit a more regular sweet pepper production is of great economic importance for the bell pepper growers.
At the moment there is no pepper variety available for cultivation of pepper in Mexico and areas with a similar climate, which combines the traits including yellow colored blocky type fruit, medium maturation time, resistance against Tobamovirus pathotype P0, P1, P(1-2), P(1-2-3), resistance against fruit cracking, very regular production with little flushing and a high number of fruits.
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